Tuesday, June 2. 2009

Wednesday, May 27. 2009

Frédéric Ambroisine from Paris, France, a filmmaker and aficionado of Hong Kong cinema, has made a three-part documentary on me. The three parts are available on his own or website http://fredambroisine.com/ or on dailymotion.com

The first time I met him, he impressed me with how much he knew about Hong Kong cinema, especially about my mother’s films from Shaw. They were very specific Chinese musicals and he knew them all.

Over the years, I would run into him in Paris, Pusan, Deauville, Hong Kong, just all over the world where there’s film. Good job Fred...and thanks.

Monday, May 25. 2009

Sunday, May 24. 2009

It is great to see Mélanie rising to the top and getting amazing recognition in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds. I met Quentin at Sundance just before he was casting for Basterds, I wish I could say I recommended Mélanie to him but I didn’t know he was prepping the film then.

She was fantastic to work with. Professional, lively, attentive, instinctive. One funny thing is whenever she had some cake or sweets on the set, it would really show. She would start dancing, singing and become very animated. That helped her character actually.

QT and Mélanie dancing on the Red Carpet

We wish Mélanie continued success.

I also happened to meet Zoe Bell from Tarantino’s Death Proof last week in L.A. She was the kick-ass heroine in the film that took on the psychopath Kurt Russell at the end. She had everyone cheering for her in the cinema.

QT cast Zoe in Death Proof after they had done Kill Bill together. She was Uma Thurman’s stunt double. She was great in the film and equally charming in real life. She also attended the Cannes premiere of Inglourious Basterds.

The screening was on May 9th. The Film Center’s director Ms. Barbara Scharres introduced the film.
The new Millienium Park which featured the Frank Gehry building, Cloud Gate (aka the Bean) by Anish Kapoor, among others.

This was Rosa's favorite attraction in the city.“Cloud Gate” (aka The Bean)

Frank Gehry’s building in the middle of the Millenium ParkThe whole city had Tulips on display. It’s an amazing sight.

Rosa standing where Kevin Costner waited for the accountant in The Untouchables

Union Station across from The Sears Tower where The Untouchables’s
famous staircase scene was shot. Like people who meet actors in person,
“He’s much shorter than I expected.” The staircase looked much longer
in the film.

Me at the bottom of the staircase

We also visited the famous The Second City and saw a matinee show entitled The Best of The Second City. A great chance to see up and coming comic actors cutting their chops with a real audience.

Some famous Alumni are John Candy, Eugene Levy, Bill Murray and the more recent ones are Tina Fey and her costar on 30 Rock, (Jack McBrayer who plays Kenneth).

Saturday, April 18. 2009

The Drummer will be screening at Chicago’s Gene Siskel Film Center on Saturday, May 9th at 8 p.m. and Tuesday, 12th at 6 p.m. Writer/director Kenneth Bi and producer Rosa Li will be present on the 9th for a Q & A session after the screening. (The Gene Siskel Film Center website will be updating the May calendar in a few days.)

Saturday, April 4. 2009

Rice Rhapsody just opened the Toronto Singapore Film Festival on 3rd April at the Revue Theatre in Toronto.

After the screening, we had an online Q & A with the audience in Toronto and me at home in Hong Kong.

It was my first time doing an online Q & A. The audience could see me but I couldn't see them. I did hear the whole cinema laugh when I made a joke.

It was interesting that Rice Rhapsody was selected to open this festival. Festival activities for this film had ended at the beginning of 2006. I was honored to have more people see the film on a big screen but too bad I could not make it to Toronto this time.

Sunday, March 29. 2009

After traveling around the region, the “Hong Kong Film New Action” campaign was finally launched at home, during last week’s Filmart (film and TV market). I attended most of the events, including a seminar on “The Outlook of Chinese Language Films” with directors John Woo, Andrew Lau, Feng Xiaogang and Oliver Stone.

Andrew Lau, Feng Xiaogang, Philip Chan (Moderator), Oliver Stone and John Woo. Each director was presented with a box set of films by emerging directors. The Drummer was one of the films chosen

John Woo started off by reiterating what a huge success “Red Cliff” was and how it has helped Chinese films attract the attention of foreign markets like US, Japan, Korea in addition to the traditional Chinese speaking territories. Andrew Lau and Feng Xiaogang talked about their recent achievements and how the China market is divided into Northern and Southern territories. Oliver Stone was here to promote “W,” which was partially financed by Hong Kong’s Emperor Motion Pictures. He talked about his love of shooting films in Asia.

At lunch with Oliver Stone

A couple of the seminars focused on China offered valuable information. For example, we learned that very soon films made in Cantonese would be able to get released in Southern China without having to be dubbed into Mandarin first (Mandarin dubbing is still required for the rest of China).

This is good news for Hong Kong films that are more focused on the local audience, as culturally, Guangdong province is a big extension of Hong Kong and being able to see films in their original language will undoubtedly attract an even bigger audience.

Wednesday, March 18. 2009

When we went to Tokyo to present The Drummer at TOKYO FILMeX back in November 2007, Jackie Chan, Daniel Wu, et al were also there filming Shinjuku Incident, so we had fun hanging out with them. One evening Jackie (we all call him “dai goh” – “big brother”) took us out to his favorite teppanyaki restaurant in Roppongi.

The teppanyaki chef meticulously laid the garlic out and cooked it to perfectionThen Dai Goh wanted to have a go at it. The director, Derek Yee, told Dai Goh to keep his new haircut under wraps until the film is released

Saturday, February 21. 2009

The Hong Kong Film Directors Guild had its annual Spring dinner this year on Thursday, Feb 19th. Directors who have made two commercially released local films are eligible to join the Guild. Around 100 veteran and emerging directors, and guests attended the festive event.

Me and Lam Wah Chuen (dir,Nothing is Impossible; also cinematographer on Made in Hong Kong and my film, Rice Rhapsody)

The day after I received the invitation I got a phone call from the Guild secretary letting me know that all directors are requested to perform during the dinner. Since it was all for good fun, few declined. Some brave souls, such as Stephen Fung (dir, House of Fury) Barbara Wong (dir, Wonder Women), and Arthur Wong (cinematographer, The Warlords) did it solo while most of us performed in groups.

Stephen Fung

Barbara Wong

Arthur Wong

My ensemble consisted of Philip Chan (actor, director, producer), Mabel Cheung, Alex Law, Chi-kin Kwok (dir, The Moss) and finally, a professional singer/musician, Lai Siu Tin (Michael Lai), who played keyboard for us. We sang a Mandarin song called “A Love Letter to Filmmakers” (sounds kinda corny in English, but much more poetic in Chinese), a beautiful ballad by Taiwanese songstress Tsai Chin. I played the guitar and provided background vocals. I don’t have a clip of our performance, but here’s how it should be sung:

One of the highlights was Teddy Robin’s rendition of “Wipeout.”

Teddy Robin & band

Awards were also handed out and it was a big evening for Wilson Yip, who won three prizes, including Best Director for Ip Man.Cheang Po Soi (dir. Dog Bites Dog) & Wilson Yip

John Woo and Ann Hui were also honored for Chi Bi and The Way We Were, respectively.